A Mahou Shoujo/Shounen (Magical Girl.Boy) RP

[Stern Algorithm]

So this will be my second attempt at GMing, so co-GM's are always welcome. My first attempt fizzled out before we even got into any action because people just stopped posting.

The idea is simple and oft-repeated: a mahou shoujo/mahou shounen style RP where a cute fluffy mascot character finds a handful of young girls or boys and gives them cute costumes and magical powers to fight the evil that threatens their world. Usually it's just girls who are picked, but I'm opening this up to boys. I expect characters to be between the ages of 10-16. I have two themes in mind.
- One theme is the four symbols of East Asian mysticism, also known as four saint beasts, cardinal beasts etc: Azure Dragon, Crimson Bird, White Tiger, and Black Tortoise. They would have the corresponding elements: Wood, Fire, Metal, Water, respectively.
- The other theme (the more interesting one in my opinion) is to pick conceptual dichotomies, for example strength vs. weakness, broad vs. specific, near vs. far, fast vs. slow, etc. I can give examples if asked for.

So, I'm looking for a small group, about 4-6 dedicated players (including myself). If you are interested, please let me know which of the two themes you would prefer, or if you are fine with both. Also, to prevent me having to turn down people, please reserve your spot by clicking the link in my signature and reading the part about my standards as a GM for further instructions. Again, I would love to have a co-GM to help.

I will make an OOC when I have have received enough interest.

[malmshodes]

What kind of magic would come about from the conceptual dichotomies?

[Tatsua Aiisen]

Ooh, I'm totally interested (Six). Both options could be neat (Five), and although I favour the traditional celestial theme (Five), I would be totally cool with either (Three).

Six

[Rin]

Ooh... I do love magical girls...

Both options sound interesting, although the second one seems to have a lot more room to work with... Hmmm. I'm fine with either, though. XD

Also 65536 I guess.

[Raineh Daze]

Dichotomies? That sounds fun.

Powers of two, however, are not so interesting. They're very... simplistic. 100000000. There. You've got your power of two. <.<

(Think binary)

[VitaVitaAR]

Oh, magical girls!

Um, dichotomies sound cool maybe.

And 128.

[Stern Algorithm]

Glad to so much interest so quickly. I'm also glad everyone's seems to be accommodating my unusual and picky demands.

To answer malmshodes' question, dichotomies would be less elemental, and more attribute based. The whole point is about min-maxing and balance, lowering one stat to raise another. For example, someone chose the dichotomies broad/specific and near/far. They could have an attack that is both near and broad (think archetypal shotgun blast) and an attack that was far and specific (think archetypal sniper rifle). If they went into 'hyper mode' or something, one could 'have one's proverbial cake and eat it', and have an attack that could have the 'best of both worlds', they might unlock an attack that was far and broad, covering a large area and doing intense collateral damage. Then, one might think the combination of near and specific might be pointless and weak, but by sacrificing both stats, something else gets boosted/unlocked.

Something like that.

So, if that answers your question, malmshodes, would you like to reserve a spot? If so, follow the instructions, and I will close registration and begin working on a OOC (since the majority of you seem to be interested in the Dichotomies)

Also, all of us are in the Beetrangers RP. Coincidence?

[Tatsua Aiisen]

If by all of us you mean all of us -Tatsua, then yes.

[Stern Algorithm]

Oh, sorry Tatsua, I recognized you from another thread.

Anyways, whether Malmshodes decides to reserve or not, we have enough people so I'm closing registration and will start on an OOC.

[Raineh Daze]

Can we have an example of what sort of thing you're after that applies to magical girls and not guns?

[Stern Algorithm]

Well, the example I gave above can apply to someone who who specializes in ranged 'generic energy blast'-type attacks (like Nanoha). Offense/defense can be applied to the body during close-range combat to alternate between delivering devestating punches and shrugging off even the strongest of blows. Hot/cold can allow wielding fire and ice. Yes/no can be used to buff allies (agreement) and debuff enemies (denial). Be creative. I'd initially like to shy away from the more familiar 'elemental' attributes (like hot/cold) to see what you all can come up with but I won't actually stop you since these are kind of hard to come up with.

[Stern Algorithm]

I may have to rethink the dichotomies a bit, since for some dichotomies, both extremes are useful, while for others, one extreme is a 'low' or 'useless' value unless offset by another dichotomy. I was initially planning for each character to start with two dichotomies so that the strong aspect of one complements the weak aspect of the other (as in the shotgun/sniper rifle example), but starting with one dichotomy also works if that dichotomy is useful at both extremes (as in the examples given in the previous post).

I have what you might call, a dilemma, uhuhu~ but let me know your preferences if any.to help inform my final decision.

On another note, I thought of two possible scenarios.
1. The classic scenario where your characters all live their daily lives with or without annoying family members, go to school, have friends, suddenly become magical girls/boys, and have to squeeze fighting monsters and saving the day into their schedules somehow. This is more chaotic but allows for character background to hav emore meaning/interactivity and allows the GM to pull more crap like endangering your friends and family.
2. A more militaristic approach where your characters are 'enlisted' and move to a barrack/dorm where you will eat, sleep, train and fight together. This allows for a more controlled environment but, to a degree, erases whatever background ties your characters may have.

Thoughts?

[Rin]

One. Definitely one.

I'll try and help with the other problem when I'm not feeling so out of it, sorry. ^^;

[VitaVitaAR]

Definitely the first one, yeah. ^^;

[Stern Algorithm]

@Rinn and @Vita, do you mean One Dichotomy, or Scenario One?

[Rin]

Scenario one.

[VitaVitaAR]

Um, yeah.

[Raineh Daze]

Scenario one.

Dichotomy: Impossible/Possible. TIME TO WARP REALITY. -shot-

[Tatsua Aiisen]

Scenario 1 plz

[Stern Algorithm]

OK, overwhelming response for scenario 1. Will work on OOC